President Trump has created “headwinds” for the GOP effort to enact tax reform, through distractions and failing to be an effective advocate for his own agenda, a key Republican senator said Monday.
“There’s a frustration, though,” Pat Toomey told Philadelphia radio host Chris Stigall. “The president is not making it easier to get this agenda done.”
“I think the president has gotten off message too often, and hasn’t been able to be an effective spokesman for his own agenda,” Toomey added.
Toomey, a member of the Senate Finance Committee that has jurisdiction over taxes, shares Trump’s agenda of lowering tax rates on businesses and individuals.
On Monday, he ventured a rare, if mild, Republican criticism of Trump’s handling of the tax issue, saying that there is “unanimous commitment to getting tax reform done” within the party but also “some frustration that we’re doing it with some headwinds that aren’t necessary.”
His comments came during a discussion of Republican responses to Trump’s controversial statements on the issues of the day, such as the white supremacist rally that ended in violence in Charlottesville, Va., and the pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. Toomey said his own priority was not commenting on Trump’s statements but instead getting major legislation, such as a replacement of Obamacare and an overhaul of the tax code, signed by Trump.
“For all of the distractions that come from the White House, President Trump will sign [tax reform] if we get it to him,” Toomey said. “So we got to get it to him.”
